1. Field of the Invention
The connector presented herein pertains to joining two or more electrical conductors such as wires to form a quick and convenient union which will insure maximum current flow and which will withstand vibration during use.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Objectives of the Invention
Connectors which are "permanent" or disconnectable types to join one or more conductors to another or other devices such as printed circuit boards have become increasing popular and as most conductors are insulated various devices have been devised to penetrate or remove the insulation to insure a reliable low resistance current flow to the terminals of the connector. Prior art connectors have been developed which include a v-shaped groove with the inner edges of the "v" being sharpened to cut through the insulation of the conductor and nest the conductor in the slot at the bottom of the "v". However, such prior art connectors generally provide only a very slight area of electrical contact since the cutting edge is usually quite thin. Thus, when such prior art connectors (usually referred to as insulation displacement connectors or "IDC's") are used, a connection can be made but such a connection is generally of low cross sectional view and therefore of low current capacity. Furthermore the prior art IDC's are influenced by vibration forces and the conductor often becomes loose causing intermittent electrical contact and poor conduction.
With the disadvantages and limitations known to conventional connectors and methods, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide an electrical connector which can be quickly and conveniently used for a wide variety of amperage requirements.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an electrical connector which is simple in construction and relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide an electrical connector which can be used to join a variety of electrical conductors.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide an electrical connector and method which will sever and separate the insulation of a desired conductor to expose a relatively wide area of the conductor to insure a good electrical contact area when the conductor is pressed into the present invention.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector which is easy to learn to use by the relatively unskilled and which will form a vibration resistant connection for stable electrical conduction.
Other objectives and advantages of the present invention become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more complete explanation of the invention is demonstrated below.